Buyer Beware: AVOID These Releases!

Elsewhere on this site, we have listed all of the official releases from Herb Alpert. This page, however, should serve as a warning to music shoppers who are looking to purchase the correct release of Herb’s large catalog of music. We will make this as simple as we can, so you can rest assured that you are purchasing only the genuine product.

Here is the number one rule for buyers: Purchase your albums or tracks only if the record label is listed as “Herb Alpert Presents.”

There is no number two rule.

Anything…anything…currently available that does notshow “Herb Alpert Presents” is an unauthorized, unofficial release that steals royalty payments from Herb Alpert. These releases exist in some strange grey area of foreign copyright laws, yet the streaming and download services are clueless and continue to list these borderline illegal items available for purchasing or streaming.

We have seen pirated sellers come and go over the years. They try to justify their illegal releases by making false claims about their legitimacy as “authorized labels” for whichever country they are operating from. This simply is not true. Herb Alpert owns his master tapes and as such, there are no other authorized labels worldwide other than Herb Alpert Presents who can lawfully release these.

Why don’t we want to support these releases, or recommend them to buyers? They are of very poor quality. At best, they are digital copies of existing older product. At worst, they are poor-quality copies made from vinyl records of questionable condition. Buying these pirated recordings offers no guarantee as to the sound quality on the recording. All of the Herb Alpert Presents tracks have been carefully restored and remastered personally by Randy Badazz.

What about used recordings?

In this case, you are safe. The classic albums on vinyl are still plentiful out there–buy them and enjoy! Likewise, the reel tapes and cassettes are pretty much a sure bet that you are getting a legitimate item. The official A&M CDs for the most part are legitimate, but please, check with our forum first before purchasing some of the rarer titles. For instance, Herb’s solo album Fandango has been widely pirated over the years, with the thieves brash enough to sell their illegal wares on eBay!

Hall of Shame

We are assembling a collage of some of the worst offenders, and will post the offending album covers below when it is ready. Shoppers deserve to know. And these pirate labels need to be discouraged. This type of piracy is rampant in the music industry now–with some artists, the number of pirated album titles outnumbers legitimate titles…and all of the major music companies are listing them. This is the terrible reality of the 21st Century, dear readers.